


Family

by AgentStannerShipper



Series: tumblr ficlets [21]
Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Homophobia, M/M, Meeting the Parents, Young!Harry, Young!Merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 20:03:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17453384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentStannerShipper/pseuds/AgentStannerShipper
Summary: Harry brings Merlin home to meet his parents.





	Family

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: “Don’t call me that!”

“Harry!” Loretta Hart draws him into a tight hug. “Oh, it’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you.” She holds him out at arm’s length, a faux-stern expression on her face, “I really don’t see how a tailoring position keeps you so busy you can’t phone home on occasion.”

“I’m sorry, Mother,” he says dutifully.

She looks appeased and shifts her gaze to Merlin, who is standing just behind Harry, an uncharacteristically shy expression on his face. “And who is this?”

Harry nudges him forward, “This is Hamish.” He hesitates, “Where’s Father?”

“In the living room.”

“Why don’t we go say hello?” He takes Merlin’s arm and guides him over the threshold, past his mother and down the hall.

“Are you sure about this?” Merlin whispers to him. “We don’t have to say anything-“

“Nonsense,” Harry murmurs back. “Everything will be alright. Trust me?”

Merlin nods, but he’s trembling a bit where he and Harry are linked. Harry has never seen Merlin like this. Frightened, a handful of times, sure, but never like _this_. It’s almost enough to make Harry give in and call it off, but he shakes that feeling away. This is important to him, and that Merlin is willing to humour him in spite of his fear only makes Harry love him more.

His father is in fact in the living room, seated in his usual armchair by the fireplace, a newspaper obscuring most of his head. Harry hesitates, and then tugs Merlin down to sit next to him on the sofa, and his mother takes the other armchair, clearing her throat delicately, “Reginald. Would you like to say something to your son?”

Harry’s father puts down his paper and studies Harry. “Your mother has been worried half to death without you calling her. I told her you were fine.” His eyes flick to Merlin, who avoids his gaze, ducking his head enough that his black hair falls across his eyes. “Who’s this?”

Harry puts his hand over Merlin’s, and Merlin glances up at him, pushing his glasses back up where they’ve slipped down his nose and biting his lip nervously. Harry smiles reassuringly at him and then looks his father dead in the eye and says, “This is Hamish. He didn’t have a home to go to for the holidays, so I thought I might bring him home with me, given that he is family now.”

The room goes quiet enough to hear a pin drop. “I beg your pardon?” Harry fights against the instinctive flinch at his father’s sharp tone.

Instead, he lifts his chin in the same stubborn way he had when he’d first told his father he was going to study zoology to become a lepidopterist. “Hamish is my partner. We met through work; he’s involved in the technical side of Kingsman, and we’ve been dating for the past six months.”

“Oh,” his mother says faintly, clearly startled.

His father’s reaction is stronger; he stands, pacing across the room to look out the window. It’s such a little gesture, but it makes Harry’s stomach sink.

Reginald Hart doesn’t look at him when he says, “You shouldn’t have brought him here.”

Merlin opens his mouth, but Harry cuts him off, “After all those years of berating me for galivanting around single, I’d have thought you’d be happy that I finally found someone I loved enough to share my life with.” Merlin stiffens next to him, and Harry realizes that this is the first time he’s said those words when someone besides the two of them was present.

His father rounds on him, his expression thunderous, “Did you think I was going to be _happy_ that my son is a poof? Bad enough that you’re queer in the first place, but to bring _him_ -“

Harry can’t help the literal snarl dripping in his voice as he says, “Don’t call me that! And don’t you _dare_ say anything bad about Hamish.”

“Reginald-“

“This is your fucking fault,” his father snaps, jabbing a finger at Harry’s mother. “If you hadn’t let him run around chasing butterflies, maybe he wouldn’t have turned out like this!”

“I’m gay,” Harry says sharply. “It’s who I am, not something that happened to me, not something that anyone did to me. I love Hamish with all my heart, and I will continue to love him until the day I die, and if that’s not something that you can handle, then perhaps I should reconsider my definition of family.”

His mother looks abruptly devastated at the thought, and she turns beseechingly towards his father, who is silent for a few moments, and then says, “Perhaps you should.” He snatches his newspaper off his armchair and stalks from the room.

Merlin has curled in on himself, and Harry wraps an arm around his shoulders. He presses a kiss to his temple, “I’m sorry, darling.”

Merlin cuddles into his side instinctively, and Harry looks up at his mother. She tears her gaze away from the door to look at him and Merlin. “I’m sorry too,” she says. She hesitates, and then adds, “He’ll come around, I’m sure. Just give him time.” She smiles warmly at Merlin, who glances up at her with trepidation. “If you’ve managed to ensnare my son’s heart after I’d quite given up on him ever settling down and finding love, then you’ll always be welcome in my house.”

“Are you sure, ma’am?” Merlin asks. “Your husband-“

She waves him off, “Reginald will either accept the facts and adjust, or he will learn to make himself scarce when you come over. Either way, he will have to acknowledge that you are part of Harry’s life now, and by extension part of ours. And please don’t call me ma’am, dear. Loretta is fine, or Mother, if you’re comfortable with that.”

Merlin blinks, looking at a loss, but Harry smiles. “Thank you, Mother.”

“There’s no need to thank me. You’re my son, Harry, and I will always love you.”

“Not for accepting me,” Harry says. He squeezes Merlin’s hand. “Like I said, Hamish doesn’t have a family to go to. It was very important to me that he become part of ours.”

“If he loves you, dear, and you him, then I’d say he already is.”


End file.
